1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to telecommunication systems. The invention is more particularly directed to the transmission of payment orders in a mobile communication system.
2. Description of Related Art
The arranging of services based on short messages has become and continues to be increasingly common. The transmission of short messages is particularly easy for users of mobile stations that are a part of a GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) telecommunication network in which a short messaging service is typically implemented.
The short message service permits a user to send, between mobile stations, short text messages that generally contain up to 160 characters. Transmission of short messages does not require that the recipient mobile station be switched on; if the intended recipient mobile station cannot be reached at the time that the message is sent, the message is saved by the short message service center for a period of at least several days. When the intended recipient mobile station is thereafter activated in the area or range of the mobile network, the message is transmitted to the now-active mobile station. Messages can be transmitted between mobile stations that are present either in the coverage area of the same cell or in different cells using the roaming feature of the mobile station. Short messages can also be transmitted to other devices, such as digital telephones or e-mail terminals or receivers.
Short messages permit the implementation of numerous and diverse services. Typically, the user of a mobile station sends a short message to a service provider that reads the short message and implements a service that is requested or indicated by the message, such as a transfer to the requesting user of balance data for the user's mobile telephone bill.
In the banking world, currency is commonly transferred between individuals and/or entities or accounts by means of a payment order, as for example a paper check. To effect such a transfer of currency, a client will order or request from the bank a check that includes identifying details of the sender and the recipient and the amount of the currency to be transferred. Upon receipt of the check, the client further sends the check to the intended recipient, who then cashes the check in a bank. Such currency transfers by check are accordingly often slow and cumbersome, since the writing or preparation of a check and the subsequent deposit or cashing of the check takes time and generally requires that the client physically visit a bank.
There are today significant problems in ordering or implementing the transmission of a payment order via a telecommunication network. Such networks, by way of particular example the Internet, are unusually subject to the possibility of cracking. To effect the transfer of currency in a telecommunication network it is therefore essential that the information security of the client be assured so that the payment order information does not end up in the hands of unintended third parties. It is further important to assure that the payment order information does not change—i.e. that it remains the same as it is transmitted from the sender to the intended recipient—to prevent attempts at misuse. The rapidity with which typical currency transfers take place in telecommunication networks raises the danger that a user is insufficiently well informed of the obligations connected or associated with a payment order.
In one heretofore known solution for implementing network-based currency transfer, the so-called Solo service, a mobile station user has a client identifier and a list of single-use passwords with which the user exercises remotely-effected control over the user's bank account, as for example to pay bills. A serious disadvantage of the Solo service, however, is that the mobile station user is responsible for and must accordingly exercise extreme caution to assure that the user's single-use passwords not end up in the wrong hands.